Journal Entry #4 (C&I 426-01): The First Meeting

On Thursday I met Mike Plautz, my observing teacher for my 300 field experience. It was nice to be in a school environment again; anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoyed my 200 field experience. I will say, though, that Hellgate Middle School is the most maze-like center of education I have ever been through. I'm sure I'll decipher the layout in time, but for now it's a little bit intimidating. Anyhow, enough architecture.

I don't feel like I was able to get a good feel for Mr. Plautz's classroom in the time I spent there. It was an early out day, and the classroom activities consisted only of announcements and finishing up the rest of a documentary the class was watching. I got to introduce myself to each of the classes and observe Mr. Plautz as he reviewed the previous section of the video everybody was watching, which dealt with the last mass extinction event about 13000 years ago.

I could see that Mr. Plautz is an effective teacher, and knows what he is doing. His students were all very well-behaved, but when they became distracted by side conversations, Mr. Plautz was able to refocus them (with a short verbal warning, usually just saying the offending student's name) without his lesson being derailed. As for his teaching style itself, though I haven't had much of a chance to get a full picture, it seems fairly effective. He tends to ask a lot of questions and promotes class discussion.

One part of the day that struck me was when a child asked if the meteor that possibly caused the extinction burnt off all the hair of the mammoths and if that was where elephants come from. Instead of just saying "no," Mr. Plautz took the time to follow the child's train of thought and help him reach a more correct conclusion. To answer the question, he asked in turn if two parents with tattoos had babies with tattoos, and the kid answered no. He then said we'd discuss that particular topic later in the year, and we moved on to the movie. I definately look forward to observing Mr. Plautz, because I feel that there is a lot he can show me that will help me improve as a teacher.

Journal Entry #3 (C&I 426-01): The 5 E's

The purpose of this entry is to write down an original class activity that utilizes the 5 E's: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation.

Lesson subject: Mitosis
Required Student Knowledge:

• Basic cell anatomy (rudimentary organelle structure and function)
• 
  

Big Ideas:

• Cell Theory (life forms are made up of cells, all cells come from other cells)
• Phases of Cell Division

Engagement:
The first step is to create interest and curiosity in students, start the class off with a question to challenge them and incite discussion. This also gives the teacher a picture of the studens' prior knowledge of the subject. For mitosis, specifically, it it may be good to ask, "Do you think you have the same amount of cells now as you did when you were born?" and "Where do cells come from?"

Exploration:
Have the students swab the inside of their mouths, fix a slide, and stain the sample. In an active class, students should already have experience with these things, but if that is not the case, this activity doubles as a great introduction to basic microscopy. Have students draw what they see cells doing. Since oral epithelial cells divide often, there should be good examples of cells in all phases of mitosis.

Explaination:
Tell student about the phases of mitosis, and have them group their pictures according to which phase that particular cell is in.

Elaboration:
Have students look at cells on prepared slides in specific phases of mitosis so that they can get a clearer picture with ideal specimens. Have them also look at a cross section of an onion root tip to show that mitosis also occurs in plants. Introduce terms (Mitosis, Anaphase, Telophase, etc.) Now is when students can get into the big ideas of Cell Theory, that all cells come from other cells, and such. Ask them what they think it means that all cells come from other cells. This exercise can lead well into meiosis, genetics, and evolution.

Evaluation:
Students should be able to identify all of the phases of mitosis and put them in order. An evaluation where they have to alternately draw a cell in a specific phase OR identify the phase a shown cell is in. Ask students why cells cells divide in the first place, and ask them what they think the purpose of a chromosome is. Using this picture of prior knowledge, the teacher can more easily construct an effective lesson on genetics or a continuation of cell theory.

Journal Entry #2 (C&I 426-01): Reprise

On Tuesday, I attended the Watershed Education Network (WEN) volunteer training. Oddly enough, I soon found out, my biology teacher in High School, Mr. Pedersen, did the same thing with my class once on a field trip. We tested the water for dissolved oxygen and measured it's pH, identified indicator species and macroinvertibrates, and judged physical characteristics of the stream. I believe that Mr. Pedersen must have attended a few of these WEN training sessions.

All in all, I had a great time of it. More importantly, I am now able to volunteer with the program and get experience teaching kids in the outdoors. I still remember things about identification of caddisflies, mayflies, and stoneflies and how that indicates the health of the stream. I also still remember testing stream pH and dissolved oxygen content. It makes sense that I remember these things; hands on experiences with science are always the most memorable, and contribute most to learning. Or, at least, that's what they've been telling me.

Journal Entry #2 (C&I 426-01)

I was reading "Scientific Knowledge: It's Construction and Development" today, and did the activity in it called The Pattern of Knowledge Construction. First, I had to look in the mirror and write my name so that I could read it while looking in the mirror. It was much harder than I anticipated; in fact, I was halfway through writing my name before I even realized it was backwards in the mirror. Next I was asked to trace a four images, and then copy eight as best as I could.

Though it was hard in the beginning, I found myself getting better at it the further along in the activity I went. Also, stabilizing the paper against my chest and my elbow against my side helped me maintain control of the pen while making it perform these new actions. My hand, however, remained shaky, and any fine motor skills I had developed over the past twenty two years went out the window. The response questions suggested that I try to do it with my eyes closed, or with my left hand. The left hand was even worse than the right, but it was a bit easier with my eyes closed. All in all, it was a fairly frustrating exercise.

I enjoyed the article's discussion on where our initial mental structures come from. The process of self-regulation, that mental structures are built up by the interaction of an organism and its environment, and the production of the state of disequilibrium is an interesting throwback to educational psychology. Most of the article was, I found, an enhancement of the material we have been discussing in class, specifically, the construction of accurate understanding of science through direct interaction and experience with situations relevant to subject matter.

In any case, I am very much looking forward to starting up my field observation. Student teaching is fairly intimidating, and I feel that I need all the experience I can get.

Journal Entry #1 (C&I 426-01)

I can remember the first time I was interested in science, but I cannot remember how old I was. At the time, I was living in New Jersey, and my parents decided to enroll me in an after school program at a place called "The Nature Center." I was pretty young, and so I don't remember much about the lessons or the class itself. I do, however, remember doing an activity centered on the anatomy of a shark; it was dissection based, and then we fried up the shark and ate it. It was wonderfully barbaric and fun. Since then, science has always been something of interest to me. I love being presented with a challenge and subsequently figuring things out. What brought me to teaching, I couldn't say for sure. Before I committed to becoming a teacher by actively seeking acceptance into the school of education, I was at a loss when it came to what I wanted to do with my life. I suppose, in the end, it was my initial love of science, particularly that which deals with living things, my desire to share that interest, which made me want to teach. Now that I am in the school of education and learning exactly what it means to be a teacher, I'm realizing how much of a challenge that actually is, and am excited that I'm moving toward that goal.

As I was reading through Chapter 1 in the text for C&I 426 (the class that this journal entry is for) and going over the rubric for how I would rate my teaching skills, I thought that my answer to most of the questions would be unclear until I had some experience teaching. Theoretically, I have wonderful class management skills, but until I put them into practice and learn how I really act in classroom situations, I will not be able to accurately assess myself. I am confident, but still inexperienced. In areas like Course Content Knowledge, however, I am surprised to find that I am slightly unsure of myself. I've studied some type of Biology almost every year of my high school and college experiences and received a 4/5 on the AP biology exam, but it is hard to say whether or not I have the thorough, deep understanding needed to break things down and systematically teach them to people who have never seen the material before. I feel as if I would be willing to do just as much studying as my students my first couple years to make sure that I'm clear on the material and concepts.

I was assigned to ask several friends where they believed the mass in trees came from. Right off the bat, almost everybody said that it came from the soil. One said that it came from the sunlight; I asked him how sunlight could turn into plant material, and he replied that it was through photosynthesis. I asked him questions trying to steer him in the direction and get him to figure it out. I find it strange that so many people don't understand the concept, but then again, I didn't figure it out completely until I took Plant Physiology last year. I believe that helping students tie big picture concepts together is one thing I'll want to focus on as a science teacher.